Dalmatian Disaster looms?

Two months to save pelican stronghold

The Romanian Ornithological Society (SOR, BirdLife in Romania) needs ?3,000 to protect Europe`s third largest Dalmatian Pelican colony from further erosion. The work must be completed in the next two months, before severe weather sets in.

The colony ? the largest in Romania ? nests on a small island on Lake Sinoie, in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. Storm damage and continuous erosion by major currents in the lake have reduced the island`s surface by 60 percent. Although 84 pairs bred on the island in 2004, a further 70 to 80 nests were swept away. [The total European breeding population of Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus is fewer than 1,500 pairs and the species has recently been up-listed to Vulnerable following declines across most of its range.]To consolidate the island in time for the next breeding season, we need to build a protective wooden support wall before the end of October. The estimated cost of the work is ?5,000. The RSPB [BirdLife in the UK] has already contributed ?2,000, but we need to raise the remaining ?3,000 as a matter of urgency. said Dan Hulea, the Executive Director of SOR